Microsoft To Open New 520K SF Office At Upcoming Hines Project
Tech giant Microsoft Corp. is unleashing 1,500 new jobs in Metro Atlanta and occupying one of the city's biggest new developments.
Microsoft has inked a deal to occupy Hines' Atlantic Yards development at Atlantic Station in Midtown, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday. The company is expected to occupy the entirety of the two-building project, a total of 523K SF.
Microsoft's $75M investment in the new facility will create 1,500 new high-tech jobs, officials said.
“We are excited that a global leader like Microsoft Corp. is expanding its investment in Georgia with tech jobs that will be truly beneficial to the company and our state,” Kemp said in a statement.
Microsoft plans to operate a “client-facing” workplace at Atlantic Yards with a focus on artificial intelligence and cloud services, state officials said in a release. The development also will include retail space for Microsoft.
Microsoft will be moving in next door to Macy's. The department store icon announced plans in February to consolidate its San Francisco technology hub into New York and Atlanta, where it has leased 103K SF at Hines' T3 West Midtown building, also at Atlantic Station.
Hines launched speculative development of Atlantic Yards in 2019, and it expects to deliver the project by the end of this year. Microsoft currently runs its cloud-computing engineering facility at Portman's Coda Building in Technology Square in Midtown. The firm also has offices in Alpharetta and Buckhead.
This deal with Microsoft burnishes Metro Atlanta's reputation as a technology hub and Midtown as the heart of that industry.
“Georgia is the place to locate for the tech industry, with Midtown Atlanta as its epicenter,” Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said in a statement.
Companies that have opened or are planning to open major tech operations in Midtown are seeking to feed from the talent pipeline produced by Georgia Tech, said The Boyd Co. principal John Boyd, a site-selection consultant.
“For projects like this, Georgia Tech is very much part of, and is front and center in, the courting process,” Boyd said.
Google agreed to anchor Selig Development's 1105 West Peachtree mixed-use project last year, and it is reportedly considering expanding its presence there to more than 400K SF. But Boyd said names like Microsoft and Google elevate a city's reputation as a technology hub on the world stage.
“Atlanta is in the big leagues," Boyd said. "Anytime you get an endorsement from Microsoft, that's huge. This Microsoft project could have easily gone to an Austin. This is a major win."
